Method for Text Input, Apparatus, and Computer Program

ABSTRACT

A method for text input comprises a primary process of receiving a user input on an input device having a plurality of selectable input items being associated with characters, an input sequence being generated in dependence of selection of an input item, wherein the generated input sequence corresponds to the sequence of input items that have been selected, and wherein the generated input sequence has a textual interpretation that is a textual interpretation that is ambiguous, and displaying on a display a textual interpretation. The method also comprises a secondary process, initiated upon receiving an input associated with a delete-character command, which comprises deleting an interpreted character and returning to the primary process, where interpretations associated with the deleted character for that position of input text are excluded, where the primary and secondary processes are performed until a user input associated with a confirm-text command is received.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to an approach for text input.In particular, the invention relates to a method for text input byambiguous input sequences entered by a user, to an apparatus comprisingan input device, and to a computer program for implementing such textinput.

BACKGROUND

Text input may be slow or cumbersome, especially when considering smallapparatuses. Different approaches have been presented for being an aidto the user for making text input. However, either the text input is noteasy or fast enough, or the apparatus will be too rigid in its aid tothe user since an apparatus never can predict all intentions of a user'stext. Thus, there is a need for improving text input.

SUMMARY

An object of the invention is to at least alleviate the above statedproblem. The present invention is based on the understanding that userintervention in interpretation candidate can enhance text input.

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method for text inputby ambiguous input sequences entered by a user. The method comprises aprimary process of receiving a user input on an input device having aplurality of selectable input items being associated with characters, aninput sequence being generated in dependence of selection of an inputitem, wherein the generated input sequence corresponds to the sequenceof input items that have been selected, and wherein the generated inputsequence has a textual interpretation that is a textual interpretationthat is ambiguous, and displaying on a display a textual interpretation.The method also comprises a secondary process, initiated upon receivingan input associated with a delete-character command, deleting aninterpreted character. The method is then arranged to return to theprimary process where interpretations associated with the deletedcharacter for that position of input text are excluded, wherein theprimary and secondary processes are performed until a user inputassociated with a confirm-text command is received.

An advantage of this is an input method where the user is enabled tointervene in interpretation in an intuitive way.

The textual interpretation may be performed by a processor comparing thegenerated input sequence with textual objects stored in a memorycontaining a plurality of such textual objects, each of the plurality oftextual objects associated with a possible input sequence. An advantageof this is enabling of a fast interpretation such that a userexperiences an instantly provided interpretation.

The method may further comprise selecting one of a plurality of possibleinterpretations, i.e. after any exclusion, for said step of displaying atextual interpretation. The method may further comprise ranking theplurality of possible interpretations, wherein the highest rankedpossible interpretation is selected in said step of selecting one of theplurality of possible interpretations. An advantage of this is that aprovided interpretation is likely to match intentions of the user's textinput.

The method may further comprise determining a time after reception ofthe input associated with a delete-character command during which nofurther user input associated with characters is received, wherein theexclusion of the interpretations associated with the deleted charactermay be timed out after a predetermined time if no further user inputassociated with characters is received during the predetermined timeafter reception of the input associated with a delete-character command.An advantage of this is that the user's intention with the interventionin interpretation may no longer be valid, or remembered by the user, andthe interpretation may be experienced to better match the user'sintentions.

The secondary process may include storing the deleted character andposition of the deleted character in a temporary data structure, and theprimary process may include accessing the temporary data structure uponperforming the textual interpretation, wherein the temporary datastructure may be discarded when the confirm-text command is received. Anadvantage of this is that the text input procedure maintains lowhardware occupation, and thus loads hardware resources less.

The confirm-text command may comprise input of a textual objectseparator or of a dedicated accept-command on the input device. Anadvantage of this is intuitive operation.

The performing of the textual interpretation may comprise interpretingthe input as an input associated with a character being closest inposition to the user actuation position if for that position of inputtext not being an excluded character; and interpreting the input asanother input associated with another character of an input item beingin vicinity of the user actuation position and being associated with acharacter not being excluded. An advantage of this is enhancement ofinput where input items are tightly positioned, or when a user is typingfast and maybe not hitting input items that accurately. The anothercharacter may be associated with another input item being in vicinity ofthe user actuation position. The another character may be associatedwith the same input item as the character being excluded.

Textual interpretation may be ambiguous due to discrepancy in detecteduser actuation position and position of a selected input item atreceiving the user input. The textual interpretation may be ambiguousdue to the selected input item is associated with a plurality ofcharacters. The textual interpretation may be ambiguous due to acharacter being associated with a plurality of aggregating user inputactions.

According to a second aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprisingan input device having a plurality of selectable input items enablingtext input by ambiguous input sequences entered by a user, the apparatusfurther comprising a processor and a display. The processor is arrangedto control a primary process of receiving a user input on the inputdevice, wherein an input sequence is being generated in dependence ofselection of an input item by manipulating the user input device, thegenerated input sequence corresponds to the sequence of input items thathave been selected, and wherein the generated input sequence has atextual interpretation that is a textual interpretation that isambiguous, and displaying on the display a textual interpretation; andto control a secondary process, initiated upon receiving an inputassociated with a delete-character command, of deleting an interpretedcharacter, and returning to the primary process where interpretationsassociated with the deleted character for that position of input textare excluded, such that the primary and secondary processes areperformed until a user input associated with a confirm-text command isreceived.

The processor may further be arranged to access a memory, wherein thetextual interpretation is performed by the processor by comparing thegenerated input sequence with textual objects stored in the memorycontaining a plurality of such textual objects, each of the plurality oftextual objects associated with a possible input sequence,

The processor may further be arranged to select one of a plurality ofpossible interpretations, i.e. after any exclusion, for the displayingof the textual interpretation on the display. The processor may furtherbe arranged to rank the plurality of possible interpretations, whereinthe highest ranked possible interpretation is the selected textualinterpretation for being displayed on the display.

The apparatus may further comprise a timer arranged to determine a timeafter reception of the input associated with a delete-character commandduring which no further user input associated with characters isreceived and to provide a time value to the processor, such that theexclusion of the interpretations associated with the deleted characteris timed out after a predetermined time if no further user inputassociated with characters is received during the predetermined timeafter reception of the input associated with a delete-character command.

The apparatus may further comprise a register, wherein the secondaryprocess includes storing the deleted character and position of thedeleted character in a temporary data structure in said register, andthe primary process includes accessing the temporary data structure fromsaid register upon performing the textual interpretation, wherein thetemporary data structure is discarded when the confirm-text command isreceived.

The input device may be a touch sensitive surface on said display andarranged to provide a position of touch action to the processor uponuser actuation by touch, the display is controlled by the processor todisplay selectable input items, and the processor is arranged to performthe textual interpretation by interpreting the input as an inputassociated with a character being closest in position to the useractuation position if for that position of input text not being anexcluded character; and interpreting the input as another inputassociated with another character of an input item being in vicinity ofthe user actuation position and being associated with a character notbeing excluded. The another character may be associated with anotherdisplayed input item being in vicinity of the user actuation position.The another character may be associated with the same displayed inputitem as the character being excluded.

According to a third aspect, there is provided a computer programcomprising computer executable program code, the program code comprisinginstructions arranged to cause a processor to perform the methodaccording to the first aspect.

Advantages of the second and third aspects are similar to thosedemonstrated for the first aspect. Other objectives, features andadvantages of the present invention will appear from the followingdetailed disclosure, from the attached dependent claims as well as fromthe drawings. Generally, all terms used in the claims are to beinterpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field,unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to “a/an/the[element, device, component, means, step, etc]” are to be interpretedopenly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device,component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. Thesteps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in theexact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention, will be better understood through the followingillustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferredembodiments of the present invention, with reference to the appendeddrawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a process diagram illustrating a method according to anembodiment.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an apparatus according to anembodiment.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a computer program product and aprocessor arranged to execute a computer program of the computer programproduct.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to an embodiment.In a user input reception step 100, a user input is received. The userinput is received on an input device having a plurality of selectableinput items being associated with characters.

An input item in this context can be a physical key or button, but ispreferably a virtual key displayed on a touch sensitive display andwhich is assigned an association to its function by a program oroperating system of the apparatus in question having the input device.Either, each input item is associated with one character, such as forexample a QWERTY keyboard, or each input item is associated with aplurality of characters, such as widely used for text input on a numerickeypad, i.e. a so called reduced keyboard, or associating a characterwith multiple input actions to form a character, e.g. keys representingstrokes where a number of input strokes form a character.

An input sequence is generated upon an input item is selected bymanipulating the user input device. The generated input sequencecorresponds to the sequence of input items that have been selected, i.e.the sequence adds up as the user continues to make inputs.

The generated input sequence has a textual interpretation that is atextual interpretation that is at least to some degree ambiguous. Theambiguity may be due to smallness of the input device, which is normallythe case for portable apparatuses as for example mobile phones, where itmay be cumbersome for the user to hit correctly on small keys, or wherethe user operates the apparatus while walking or performing other taskssimultaneously. Ambiguity can also be because of discrepancy betweenwhere a user expects for example a finger to hit a touch sensitivedisplay and where the actual detected touch position really is. Afurther reason for ambiguity is of course where several characters areassociated with one input item.

The textual interpretation is performed by a processor comparing thegenerated input sequence with textual objects stored in a memorycontaining a plurality of such textual objects. The textual objects canbe based on words, word stems, expressions or other pieces of writtenlanguage. Thus, each of the plurality of textual objects are associatedwith a possible input sequence forming such a word, word stem,expression or other piece of written language. The textual objects canbe encoded in a plurality of ways, e.g. by ASCII, ISO/IEC 8859-1 or UTF,but also with hash values. Hash values can be used for dictionaries toquickly search in them. For example each word in the dictionary can havea hash value and the input can translated into a hash value that thenmatches a dictionary word.

One or more interpretations of the textual intent of the input can thusbe determined in a sequence interpretation step 102. If severalinterpretations are possible, which is often the case at least for shortsequences since not only sequences of equal length as the input sequenceis made, an interpretation can be chosen for displaying on a display ina interpretation displaying step 104 based on for example statisticaland/or contextual analysis.

This process can be performed while consecutive user inputs associatedwith characters are received, or at editing of text. However,apparatuses can never in all situations predict the intentions of auser. For alleviating this, the user is given more control at the sametime as the apparatus is supporting to its best. This is achieved by theuser indicating by giving a delete command when satisfactoryinterpretation is not presented, and a secondary process, initiated 110upon the reception of an input associated with a delete-charactercommand, is performed before returning to the input process.

This secondary process comprises deleting an interpreted character in adeletion step 106, which can be the latest interpreted character or acharacter indicated by the user in any other way, e.g. by setting acursor or other graphical user interface object at the non-satisfactorycharacter, wherein the indicated non-satisfactory character and itsposition in the text is considered upon further interpretation such thatsuch non-satisfactory interpretation is excluded. This can beimplemented by storing 108 a data structure comprising the deletedcharacter and its position in the text.

Feedback can be provided to the user by for example showing the deletedcharacter on the input device as inactive, e.g. the virtual key or partof virtual key indicating the deleted character being “greyed out”.

If the user deletes several characters, e.g. consecutively, the user'sintention may be to reformulate the text, and not to intervene with theinterpretation. This can be detected by analysing input behaviour ofdelete commands and upon detection that it is probable that the user'sintention is reformulation rather than intervention in interpretation,e.g. major part of word being deleted, number of consecutive deletecommands exceeds a threshold, or time between delete commands is below athreshold, then no exclusion of interpretations is caused, and theprimary process continues without any exclusions due to these deletions.

For the understanding of the approach, the terms “primary process” and“secondary process” are used in the drawings and this disclosure, wherethe primary process is intended to demonstrate main input andinterpretation process, and the secondary process is intended toindicate the user's intervention in the interpretation. These processesneed not be part of the implementation, and are here used forfacilitating understanding of the principles. FIG. 2 is a processdiagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment in a moregeneral way, where transitions due to input of a “delete” command,secondary process causing an “exclusion” of interpretations in theprimary process, a “confirm” command causes a settlement ofinterpretation, or the primary process is caused to “proceed” if nointervention or settlement is the case. In FIG. 1, it is for exampleillustrated that after a deletion, the process starts with receiving 100a new input. This is not necessary. According to an embodiment, theprocess instead makes/selects a new interpretation with the exclusion.Thus, the term deletion can here both be interpreted as deletion of thecharacter and as deletion of the interpretation with the displayedcharacter, but without need to make a new input associated with acharacter for replacing the deletion. Further, in FIG. 1 it is indicatedthat the exclusion is performed at interpretation 102. However, theexclusion can equally be performed at selection and displaying 104 ofinterpretation candidate among interpretations already made.

The primary and secondary processes are performed until a user inputassociated with a confirm-text command is received 112, wherein theinterpreted text is settled 114 in an application in question, e.g. amessaging application.

The exclusion of the interpretations associated with the deletedcharacter can be timed out after a predetermined time if no further userinput associated with characters is received during the predeterminedtime after reception of the input associated with a delete-charactercommand. Thus, if the user regrets a delete action, it only takes awhile, and the exclusion of interpretations is reset.

The secondary process can include storing the deleted character andposition of the deleted character in a temporary data structure. Theprimary process can then include accessing the temporary data structureupon performing the textual interpretation, or when selectinginterpretation candidate for displaying. The temporary data structure ispreferably discarded when the confirm-text command is received. Thediscarding can be any of deleting the data structure or deletingcontents, i.e. character(s) and position(s) of the data structure, oroverwriting contents, deleting or overwriting references to datastructures, etc.

The confirm-text command comprises input of a textual object separatoror of a dedicated accept-command of the input device, e.g. hitting an OKkey, which may be a hard or soft key. In this context, a textual objectseparator can be a space symbol or a punctuation symbol. A punctuationsymbol can for example be any of an apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma,dashes, full stop, question mark, semicolon, slash, etc.

For a one-to-one relation between input items and characters, thetextual interpretation can comprise interpreting the input as an inputassociated with a character being closest in position to the useractuation position. However, if the associated character for thatposition of the input text is an excluded character, the interpreting ofthe input is made as another input associated with another character ofan input item being in vicinity of the user actuation position and beingassociated with a character not being excluded. The another character isthus associated with another input item being in vicinity of the useractuation position. For a one-to-multiple relation between input itemand characters, the another character can instead be associated with thesame input item as the character being excluded, i.e. another characterassociated with that input item can be chosen.

For example an interpretation approach in this context may use more thanthe position of the current actuation and look-up in textual objects todecide the character; it may use a previous actuation position and timeto decide the current character. For example, by considering that if thefinger is likely to move in a certain direction when moving from theprevious actuation position for actuating at the new input actuationposition, it can be assumed that a larger variability along thatdirection, e.g. considered as a vector in calculations by the processor,and less variability along an orthogonal direction, which also can beconsidered as a vector in the calculations. This is an example how theprocessor can make calculations of likelihood which possibly can be usedfor example for selecting a candidate interpretation to be displayed,and/or for ranking candidate interpretations based on likelihood,possibly together with further statistical analysis. Similar physicalphenomena, such as an assumed angle of finger based on knowledge ofpreferred left or right hand use by user, portrait or landscape use ofdisplay/apparatus, etc., can be used for likelihood calculations. Theinterpretation approach can have many things that makes up its finaldecision and by deleting a character such that interpretation can beweighted down in calculating the probability of an interpretation in thecurrent case radically, and in upcoming interpretations eventually. Atimed out delete characters is an example, as described herein, of howthis can be implemented, where the probability of the delete characterinstantly decrease but then gradually/step-wise increase in probabilityagain.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an apparatus 300 according to anembodiment. The apparatus 300 comprises an input device 302 having aplurality of selectable input items being associated with characters, aprocessor 304, a memory 306 and a display 308. The input device 302 anddisplay 308 can form one element by being a touch sensitive display andthe above demonstrated virtual keyboard or keypad can be implemented,but the input device 302 and display 308 may also be separate elements.Text input to the apparatus is arranged to be performed according to anyof the embodiments above. Thus, the processor 304 receives the detecteduser input sequence from the input device 302, compares with sequencesstored in the memory 306 and makes an interpretation that is sent to thedisplay 308, etc.

The input items associated with characters can be virtual keys arrangedunder control of the processor on the display, in the case of a touchsensitive display, such that user actuation is detected by the touchsensitive display. In case of a physical keyboard or keypad, there ispreferably a static association with characters to the keys of thephysical keypad or keyboard.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a computer program product and aprocessor arranged to execute a computer program of the computer programproduct. The methods according to the embodiments demonstrated above aresuitable for implementation with aid of processing means, such ascomputers and/or processors, especially for the case where theapplication is a communication apparatus such as a mobile phone or a socalled “smartphone”, i.e. a combined mobile telephone and portablecomputer or portable digital assistant, which apparatuses normally arearranged with non-negligible processing power and also with an operatingsystem for handling one or more applications or computer programs.Therefore, there is provided computer programs, comprising instructionsarranged to cause the processing means, processor, or computer toperform the steps of any of the methods according to any of theembodiments described with reference to FIG. 1 or 2. The computerprograms preferably comprises program code which is stored on a computerreadable medium 400, as illustrated in FIG. 4, which can be loaded andexecuted by a processing means, processor, or computer 402 to cause itto perform the methods, respectively, according to embodiments of thepresent invention, preferably as any of the embodiments described withreference to FIG. 1 or 2. The computer 402 and computer program product400 can be arranged to execute the program code sequentially whereactions of the any of the methods are performed stepwise. The processingmeans, processor, or computer 402 can be what normally is referred to asan embedded system. Thus, the depicted computer readable medium 400 andcomputer 402 in FIG. 4 should be construed to be for illustrativepurposes only to provide understanding of the principle, and not to beconstrued as any direct illustration of the elements.

The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a fewembodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled inthe art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equallypossible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appendedpatent claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for text input of ambiguous inputsequences entered by a device user, the method comprising: a primaryprocess of receiving a user input on an input device having a pluralityof selectable input items, each input item being associated with atleast one character, an input sequence being generated in dependence ofselection of input items, wherein the generated input sequencecorresponds to the sequence of input items that have been selected, andwherein the generated input sequence has a textual interpretation of thecharacters associated with the input sequence, wherein the textualinterpretation is ambiguous, and displaying on a display the textualinterpretation; and a secondary process, initiated upon receiving aninput associated with a delete-character command and comprising deletinga character of the textual interpretation, at a position thereof,wherein the deleted character corresponds to a first input item, andreturning to the primary process where textual interpretationsassociated with the deleted character for said position are excluded,and displaying an updated textual interpretation, wherein the updatedtextual interpretation, at a position corresponding to the deletedcharacter of the textual interpretation, has another character beingassociated with a second input item of the input device, wherein thesecond input item is in vicinity of the first input item; wherein theprimary and secondary processes are performed until a user inputassociated with a confirm-text command is received; wherein the textualinterpretation is performed by a processor comparing the generated inputsequence with textual objects stored in a memory containing a pluralityof such textual objects, each of the plurality of textual objects beingassociated with a possible input sequence; and wherein the methodfurther comprises selecting one of a plurality of possibleinterpretations, after any exclusion, for said step of displaying thetextual interpretation.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingranking the plurality of possible interpretations, wherein the highestranked possible interpretation is selected in said step of selecting oneof the plurality of possible interpretations.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining a time after reception of the inputassociated with a delete-character command during which no further userinput associated with characters is received, wherein the exclusion ofthe interpretations associated with the deleted character is timed outafter a predetermined time if no further user input associated withcharacters is received during the predetermined time after reception ofthe input associated with a delete-character command.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the secondary process includes storing the deletedcharacter and position of the deleted character in a temporary datastructure, and the primary process includes accessing the temporary datastructure upon performing the textual interpretation, wherein thetemporary data structure is discarded when the confirm-text command isreceived.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the confirm-text commandcomprises input of a textual object separator or of a dedicated acceptcommand on the input device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theperforming of the textual interpretation comprises: interpreting theinput as an input associated with a character being closest in positionto the user actuation position if for that position of input text notbeing an excluded character; and interpreting the input as another inputassociated with another character of an input item being in vicinity ofthe user actuation position and being associated with a character notbeing excluded.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein textual interpretationis ambiguous due to discrepancy in detected user actuation position andposition of a selected input item at receiving the user input.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein textual interpretation is ambiguous becausethe selected input item is associated with a plurality of characters. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein textual interpretation is ambiguousbecause a character is associated with a plurality of aggregating userinput actions.
 10. An apparatus comprising an input device having aplurality of selectable input items enabling text input by ambiguousinput sequences entered by a device user, the apparatus furthercomprising a processor and a display, wherein the processor isconfigured to control a primary process of receiving a user input on theinput device, wherein an input sequence is being generated in dependenceof selection of an input item by manipulating the user input device,wherein each input item is associated with at least one character, thegenerated input sequence corresponds to the sequence of input items thathave been selected, and wherein the generated input sequence has atextual interpretation of the characters associated with the inputsequence, wherein the textual interpretation is ambiguous, anddisplaying on the display a textual interpretation; and wherein theprocessor is configured to control a secondary process, initiated uponreceiving an input associated with a delete-character command, of:deleting a character of the textual interpretation, at a positionthereof, wherein the deleted character corresponds to a first inputitem, and returning to the primary process where textual interpretationsassociated with the deleted character for said position are excluded,and displaying an updated textual interpretation, wherein the updatedtextual interpretation, at a position corresponding to the deletedcharacter of the textual interpretation, has another character beingassociated with a second input item of the input device, wherein thesecond input item is in vicinity of the first input item; such that theprimary and secondary processes are performed until a user inputassociated with a confirm-text command is received; wherein theprocessor is further configured to access a memory, wherein the textualinterpretation is performed by the processor by comparing the generatedinput sequence with textual objects stored in the memory containing aplurality of such textual objects, each of the plurality of textualobjects being associated with a possible input sequence; and wherein theprocessor is further configured to select one of a plurality of possibleinterpretations, after any exclusion, for the displaying of the textualinterpretation on the display.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe processor is further configured to rank the plurality of possibleinterpretations, wherein the highest ranked possible interpretation isthe textual interpretation selected for being displayed on the display.12. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a timer configured todetermine a time after reception of the input associated with adelete-character command during which no further user input associatedwith characters is received and to provide a time value to theprocessor, such that the exclusion of the interpretations associatedwith the deleted character is timed out after a predetermined time if nofurther user input associated with characters is received during thepredetermined time after reception of the input associated with adelete-character command.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, furthercomprising a register, wherein the secondary process includes storingthe deleted character and position of the deleted character in atemporary data structure in said register, and the primary processincludes accessing the temporary data structure from said register uponperforming the textual interpretation, wherein the temporary datastructure is discarded when the confirm-text command is received. 14.The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the input device is a touch sensitivesurface on said display and is configured to provide a position of touchaction to the processor upon user actuation by touch, the display iscontrolled by the processor to display selectable input items, and theprocessor is configured to perform the textual interpretation byinterpreting the input as an input associated with a character beingclosest in position to the user actuation position if for that positionof input text not being an excluded character; and interpreting theinput as another input associated with another character of an inputitem being in vicinity of the user actuation position and beingassociated with a character not being excluded.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon,the computer program comprising computer executable program code, theprogram code comprising instructions configured to cause a processor toperform: a primary process of receiving a user input on an input devicehaving a plurality of selectable input items, each input item beingassociated with at least one character, an input sequence beinggenerated in dependence of selection of input items, wherein thegenerated input sequence corresponds to the sequence of input items thathave been selected, and wherein the generated input sequence has atextual interpretation of the characters associated with the inputsequence, wherein the textual interpretation is ambiguous, anddisplaying on a display the textual interpretation; and a secondaryprocess, initiated upon receiving an input associated with adelete-character command and comprising deleting a character of thetextual interpretation, at a position thereof, wherein the deletedcharacter corresponds to a first input item, and returning to theprimary process where textual interpretations associated with thedeleted character for said position are excluded, and displaying anupdated textual interpretation, wherein the updated textualinterpretation, at a position corresponding to the deleted character ofthe textual interpretation, has another character being associated witha second input item of the input device, wherein the second input itemis in vicinity of the first input item; wherein the primary andsecondary processes are performed until a user input associated with aconfirm-text command is received; wherein the textual interpretation isperformed by comparing the generated input sequence with textual objectsstored in a memory containing a plurality of such textual objects, eachof the plurality of textual objects being associated with a possibleinput sequence; and wherein the primary process further comprisesselecting one of a plurality of possible interpretations, after anyexclusion, for said step of displaying the textual interpretation.